A big surprise

Sunday was the best day of my life! Because it was the day Dave asked me to marry him!

He surprised me down at our favourite beach in Jervis Bay.
Remember we saw the first sunrise of the year there together?

We took a day trip to the beach at breakfast & coffees in the car and lunch at the cute little beach cafe
at Hyams Beach.

When I was just leaning back enjoying the first warm Spring sun rays by the beach he completely surprised me. We have both talked about getting married but I did not expect it on the day.

Hidden within a sunglasses case, Dave through the ring box a few meters away from our towels, while playing with Dalston. He then asked me to see what our little pup found in the sand.
I assumed someone has left their sunnies behind at the beach, and took the case of Dalston to check.
Completely confused I found a ring box in the case... well and when I opened it he popped the question.

And he did super well with the ring too. Totally my style: A yellow gold vintage ring
with a diamond and 2 sapphire side stones.

We took a beautiful drive back through the Kangaroo Valley, and spontaneously stopped over at Dave's family home to tell his parents the good news.

We really wanted to take a picture together with the timer, but after the proposal we were just so happy and caught up in the moment that we actually forgot.

I hope you enjoy our happy snaps from the day.
And we will post some of us together real soon. For now we are all smiles and butterflies.

Dalston In The City & Sunny Doggie Days

Photos from Dalston by dear friend & pet photographer Julianna @ Two Guineapigs!
Dalston has grown into a fabulous little man, walking on the leash nicely at most times, and being just a joy to have around. He absolutely loves people and wants to say Hi to every single stranger on the street to turn him into a friend. I still feel so lucky to have a dog in my life. We have been waiting for this for such a long time and there is truly nothing better on a stressful work intense day then a little pooch asking for attention and reminding me to take a break ever so often.
On Sunday after going for a morning run, we all went out for a yummy Breakfast together in at The Book Kitchen in Surry Hills, and afterwords wondered around town checking out little shops and just enjoying the sunshine. I was beyond impressed with how well behaved Dalston was, he just seemed to be so happy to be out and about in the City, sniffing around new areas.

The sun has been out a lot lately, and Autumn has never felt better, it's almost Summer at some days and then there are cozy crisp nights on others.
Check out Dalstons smile below! (All pics below as usual our own & iPhone)

Sometimes All You Need Is A Holiday + Dolphins + BBQ's

Even if it's only for three days!
After a couple of weddings this Easter weekend,
We got up super early on Sunday morning to drive down the coast to Jervis Bay.

The best idea ever! I don't even know where to start...
I hope our photos do the beauty of the nature some justice!

The drive was already beautiful- While it was storming on our way down there, and raining on our little boat trip the whole time we spent there was blue skies and sunshine.
We were driving down by the coast, stopping over at some great viewing point while the sun was rising.
Once in Husskinson the slightly bigger down in the area, we went for delicious breakfast and coffees,
strengthening ourselves for the boat ride across the whole bay.
And we saw dolphins! Even a little baby one!

They were too fast to capture but Dave managed to snap a little part of them.
It was a magical experience.

Hyams Beach, where we were staying at has the whitest sand beach in the whole wide world (yes, it actually is in the Guiness Book Of World Records).
The water was the cleanest most turquoise I have seen, the nature was overwhelmingly beautiful.
Our little cottage with ocean view, was the cutest thing I have ever seen.
The owners put so much love into it, it showed in every detail.
Actually it was so good that on our second night we didn't even want to go out for dinner! We had a seafood BBQ on the veranda instead. AMAZING.

More about our little getaway very soon!
Hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend.

Collecting, Camping and Focusing

Did I tell you we are camping in our own house right now?
No? Ah well, we are still waiting for our furniture&belongings, which are somewhere on a ship between London and Sydney right now. So we are sleeping on mattresses on the floor, eating from picnic ware and living on a bare minimum of suitcase essentials.It's fun some days, and annoying on others. Somehow cozy and creative but messy at times, we can't wait for our things to arrive.
In the meantime we are going round flea markets, 2nd hand furniture shops and little antique shops trying to find things for the new house that we won't have already and really need.
Other people go to the gym, we go furniture shopping without a car!
Keeping fit, we start to feel like the local gypsies in our rather posh little neighborhood.
David keeps carrying our treasures home. We are so excited to have our own place, and to decorate and renovate the apartment step by step. It feels better than I could have ever imagined, I love our place.
While we are both busy at work, it can feel overwhelming at times to come back to our little camping site, but we know its for limited time only.

Inbetween work and furniture finding we tried and make some room for coffees and dinners together.
Time to focus and talk about our goals and plans for our new life in Sydney.
I noticed how much power there is in focusing. It's easy to get sidetracked, to listen to other peoples opinions and negative beliefs to get caught up in what if's.
But what if I no longer care about what others fear or think I can't do? I focus on what I know I can do and on what I want to achieve and things are starting to fall into place. There are endless opportunities everywhere.
Sending all of you some focus and happiness for this exciting new year.
We will post some pictures of the house, once it's all done ;)

Hello Pool, Bye bye garden!

These photos were taken on the last day we stayed with Dave's family, in their beautiful garden.
That day was filled with packing and organizing but we sneaked in some time for laps in the local pool and an hour of sunshine in the garden.
That's what makes Australia so special, the work/life balance.
Living the good life, and getting things done at the same time.
This is my idea of living the Liv life ;)

I wrapped up Christmas presents today and put them under the tree.
It's really around the corner now and I am looking forward to having everyone around and spent the day together with some lovely food, probably in my new vintage swimsuit!
Besides the gifts I ordered for others there was a special little surprise in the post today from the amazing Sydney based swimwear designers Sirens Swimwear, I had to put it on straight away.
And I already know, I will wear this one A LOT. Hooray for local designers!
The amazing Alex from the photographers collective Gentlemen Take Pictures happened to have a minute, got his camera out and snapped a few shots for me in the garden.
(We are all living together in the house right now, one wonderful big creative family Dave has!)
I can't wait to collaborate with them soon for some editorial makeup shoots.


When you are reading this we would have moved into our new place.
Happy Christmas everyone and catch you soon! (as soon as our internet will be connected)